What causes nerve pain?
Nerve pain occurs any time a nerve is injured, irritated, or inflamed. Many medical conditions can lead to nerve pain, including diabetes, shingles, nutritional deficiencies, tumors, and postherpetic neuralgia.
A pinched spinal nerve, one of the most common types of nerve pain, often develops due to:
- Bone spurs
- Herniated disc
- Facet joint arthritis
- Slipped vertebra
- Spinal stenosis
- Degenerative disc disease
When your pinched nerve is outside the spine, the problem could be caused by an injury to your muscles, ligaments, and tendons. For example, repetitive-use injuries often lead to pinched nerves as the soft tissues become inflamed.
How is sciatica related to nerve pain?
Sciatica refers to a group of symptoms that develop when the sciatic nerve is pinched in the spine.
The classic symptom is electric-shock pain that begins in your lower back and travels through your buttocks and down one leg.
What other symptoms accompany nerve pain?
Any time you have pain due to a nerve problem, including sciatica, you may experience symptoms like:
- Localized pain at the site of the pinched nerve
- Pain that radiates down your arms or legs
- Tingling that radiates along the nerve
- Numbness instead of pain
- Muscle weakness in the affected arm or leg
- Weak grip in your hands
The pain associated with nerve damage may be moderate aching pain, burning pain, or excruciating, electric-shock pain.
How is nerve pain treated?
Before treating nerve pain at Pinnacle Pain and Spine, our providers identify the cause of your pain and determine if you have an underlying condition.
The first line of treatment addresses the underlying condition while easing your pain with medications and physical therapy.
If your pain doesn’t improve, your individualized treatment plan may include one or more treatments drawn from interventional medicine, regenerative medicine, and complementary therapies. These include:
- Epidural steroid injection
- Spinal cord stimulation
- Facet joint injections
- Radiofrequency ablation
- Nerve blocks
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections
- Bone marrow aspirate
- Prolozone™ IV therapy
You may also get relief from your nerve pain with a clinical massage.
Don’t wait to seek help for nerve pain. Call Pinnacle Pain and Spine or book an appointment online today.
